Results tagged ‘ Steven Jackson ’

It doesn’t get nearly the fanfare the big-league free agent market does, but the Minor League free agent market has opened for all as well. Here is a list of players in the Pirates’ system who were granted Minor League free agency because of service time accrued:

* Note: OF Brandon Moss and RHP Steven Jackson were also granted Minor League free agency. They are not on this list above because they were able to declare earlier than these others after being removed from the 40-man roster last week.

Here, in a nice organized form, is the full list of players who became Minor League free agents over the weekend. Why might this be of interest to you? Well, remember the Pirates are now free to scour this list and negotiate with anyone in this group. You’ll find some interesting names in here, too.

When the Pirates removed RHP Sean Gallagher off the 40-man roster and outrighted him to Indianapolis, the club was working under the belief that Gallagher had accrued enough Minor League service time to declare himself a Minor League free agent as soon as he was able to do so (which was on Saturday). However, after further review, Gallagher is not yet eligible.

This means that he does not have the ability to refuse his assignment to Triple-A and that he will be under the club’s control through 2011 without having to sign a Minor League deal. He’ll most likely be invited to Major League Spring Training, though that hasn’t been announced yet.

On the other hand, both RHP Steven Jackson and OF Brandon Moss officially became Minor League free agents this weekend.

RHP Chan Ho Park has been taken off the 40-man roster, as he is now a free agent.

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:

Because they have already been outrighted off a 40-man roster before, Moss, Thomas and Jackson are now free to declare Minor League free agency immediately. Expect each of the three to do so very soon.

Gallagher has accrued enough Minor League service time to also become a Minor League free agent, but he can’t do that immediately like the aforementioned guys. The Pirates have until 5 p.m. ET to try and negotiate a contract (techincally called a successor contract) with Gallagher to keep him. The Pirates are believed to be making such an attempt to resign Gallagher.

Clement doesn’t have the service time to become a Minor League free agent, so he will remain on Indianapolis’ roster. He should be invited to big league camp next spring, though he might still be recovering from knee surgery.

With the Braves sitting only 1/2 game ahead of the Phillies in the NL East standings, the Pirates will have the chance to affect that race one way or another these next two nights. Pittsburgh finished 4-2 against the Phillies this season. Currently, the Braves hold a 5-2 advantage in their season series against Pittsburgh.

The Pirates’ clubhouse got much more crowded today, as eight players from Triple-A Indianapolis’ club have arrived. That group includes Pedro Ciriaco, Jason Jaramillo, Brandon Moss, Alex Presley, Brian Bass, Steven Jackson, Brad Lincoln and Justin Thomas. Much much more on roles and expected playing time on the main site later today.

Not long after announcing that they had claimed right-hander Chris Resop off waivers, the Pirates announced the claim of righty Chan Ho Park.

Park, a 17-year veteran, appeared in 29 games for the Yankees this season. He allowed 22 earned runs on 40 hits and 12 walks in 35 1/3 innings. Park also struck out 29.

The Pirates will be the seventh different team the 37-year-old South Korea native has played for since making his Major League debut in 1994. The Pirates will be responsible for paying what remains on Park’s $1.2 million contract. He will be a free agent after the season.

Both Park and Resop will go into the Pirates’ bullpen. Resop is expected to be available for Thursday’s game; Park will arrive on Friday.

The club opened up a spot for Resop on the 40- and 25-man rosters by designating Steven Jackson for assignment. Park was placed on the 40-man roster by moving Steve Pearce to the 60-day disabled list. A reliever will be sent down upon Park’s arrival on Friday.

The Pirates aren’t going to “officially” name a spot starter for Saturday, but some simple deduction points to one guy — Daniel McCutchen. Manager John Russell even hinted at such this afternoon.

The other three previous candidates won’t be available — Dana Eveland (designated for assignment), Brian Burres (started for Triple-A Indy yesterday) and Charlie Morton (starting for Indy tonight).

Plus… I just saw a No. 34 McCutchen jersey dropped off in the Pirates’ clubhouse. I’d call that a giveaway.

The announcement won’t come until after Friday’s game because the Pirates want to stick with an eight-man bullpen until then. Steven Jackson or Justin Thomas will likely be sent back to Indianapolis to make room for McCutchen, and my guess is that it will be Jackson.

The Pirates selected the contract of lefty Justin Thomas and recalled right-hander Steven Jackson on Thursday to bring their roster back to a full 25 players. The two vacancies had been created when Zach Duke was placed on the DL and after Dana Eveland had been designated for assignment.

This will be Jackson’s second go-around with Pittsburgh this season. He made one relief appearance (May 28) during that short stint. In 22 games with Triple-A Indianapolis this season, Jackson has allowed 10 earned runs on 34 hits and 11 walks in 31 innings. He has struck out 18. Jackson has not allowed a run in his last 10 Triple-A appearances.

This will be Thomas’ first return to the Majors since 2008, when he went 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in eight relief appearances with the Mariners. Thomas, 26, is 3-0 with a 1.30 ERA in 24 relief appearances with Indianapolis. Thomas has allowed just two earned runs in his last 19 appearances.

We’ll find out more details shortly once the clubhouse opens, but the Pirates’ decision to bring up two relievers was likely dictated by the need to have some fresh arms available for the next few days. The fact that Paul Maholm only went one inning on Wednesday forced manager John Russell to rely on his ‘pen for seven innings yesterday.

The Pirates still need a starter for Saturday, but that roster move likely won’t come until just before then. I’d expect the Pirates to send either Jackson or Thomas (likely Jackson, so the Pirates can keep a second left-handed reliever) after Friday’s game to clear a spot for a starter. Daniel McCutchen and Charlie Morton remain the candidates.

MLB released All-Star Game online voting totals on Tuesday, and once again, the Pirates didn’t have a player dent the Top 5 (or Top 15 with outfielders). The glaring omission, obviously, has to be center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Consider that he entered Wednesday…

Ranked 2nd among all NL outfielders with a .310 batting average

Ranked 6th among all NL outfielders with a .385 on-base percentage

Ranked 2nd among all NL outfielders with 13 stolen bases

Ranked 2nd among all NL outfielders with 61 hits

Sure, McCutchen is not among the HR and RBI leaders, but that’s not where he is expected to be. There’s no doubt that McCutchen has caught the idea of players/coaches/managers around the league all year — I’m always getting quotes (unsolicited) about the outfielder from our MLB.com writers covering other teams — but he’s just not getting the public recognition his season deserves. Part of that likely has to do with the fact that he doesn’t play for a big-market team or for a top club. We’ll see if it changes as the month progresses.

Voting will continue online at MLB.com for another month. You can cast your vote here. Updated NL voting totals will be released weekly.

TODAY’S NEWS AND NOTES:

This moustache and high socks fad has caught on in the clubhouse, but I’m going to make you read more about Bobby Crosby’s initial challenge to grow out the facial hair in the Pirates Beat on the main site a little later. Don’t expect to see any razors until the team loses.

In case you missed it after last night’s game, lefty Jack Taschner has been activated off the DL and Steven Jackson was optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis.

First baseman Steve Pearce (sprained right ankle) was cleared to hit off the tee on Wednesday for the first time. “Moving on up,” he said, smiling. He has not yet begun any sort of running. That will be last on the list.

Starter Chris Jakubauskas is headed to Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow to continue his throwing program. He threw two sides here and will throw at least two more sides and two sessions of batting practice down there before the Pirates continue a Minor League rehab assignment. The best news continues to be that he is feeling no more effects from being hit in the head on a line drive.

Outfielder Ryan Church may have come back from a bruised right wrist injury weeks ago, but he said on Wednesday that this series has marked the first time since the initial injury (May 7) that the wrist hasn’t affected him.

Jeff Karstens is likely to start for the Pirates on Sunday, though manager John Russell hesitated to say that was etched in stone. Newly-acquired Dana Eveland is unlikely to be ready to join the rotation by then. And Brian Burres is being skipped.

As for Burres, Russell said he’d be a bullpen option tonight, but the plans for him moving forward were fuzzy. That sure seems to suggest that he might be on his way out when Eveland arrives on Friday. The numbers just don’t seem to add up otherwise.

Pirates president Frank Coonelly held his monthly online chat on Wednesday, and here is the transcript. Coonelly discussed the Draft throughout, and to complement that, I’ll have two Draft stories coming out over the next two days to go into more detail on the Pirates’ Draft plans.

While we’re talking Draft, MLB.com Draft guru Jonathan Mayo made his latest first-round predictions on Wednesday. His guess at who the Pirates will take with the No. 2 pick? High school shortstop Manny Machado. Though he cautions everyone not to count out high school pitcher Jameson Taillon. Here is Mayo’s full list.

For those of you not close enough to get FSN Pittsburgh, MLB Network has announced that it will be telvising Stephen Strasburg’s Major League debut against the Pirates next Tuesday. You had to figure that was coming…

Recently benched second baseman Aki Iwamura was out taking groundballs at third base this afternoon. Iwamura played third during his time in Japan, and the Pirates are refamiliarizing him with the position so that he can be an option there off the bench.

How good have the Pirates been against the Cubs this year? Well, the team is 7-1 and has won five straight games against Chicago at PNC Park. That comes after the Pirates went 1-8 in their previous nine against the Cubs. Garrett Jones and McCutchen have been especially potent against Chicago pitching — the two have combined to go 27-for-53 with four homers, 17 RBIs and 17 runs scored.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates’ seven wins this season while scoring three or fewer runs trails only the Padres, who have won 12 times while scoring no more than three runs.

After Tuesday’s win, the Pirates announced plans to activate lefty Jack Taschner from the disabled list prior to Wednesday’s game. The club optioned right-hander Steven Jackson to Triple-A in order to clear a roster spot for Taschner. Jackson, who had just joined the club on Friday, made a scoreless 1 2/3-inning relief appearance on Friday.

Taschner had been on the DL with left hamstring tightness, and Wednesday was to be the first day the lefty would have been eligible to come off. He tossed one scoreless inning in a rehab appearance with Double-A Altoona on Monday after pitching an inning in relief on Saturday.

“I felt really good,” Taschner said. “The hamstring felt great.”

Taschner tested out the hamstring in front of the Pirates’ trainers on Tuesday, after which the club made the decision that he was ready to return. In 17 1/3 innings this season, Taschner has allowed 12 runs on 21 hits and six walks. He has 15 strikeouts.

Now that I’ve got the nearly two hour drive to Fort Myers out of the way, it’s time to note the significance of all this…

With the roster moves, the Pirates now have 30 players remaining in camp. Of those 30, two — Joel Hanrahan and Jose Ascanio – are expected to start the year on the DL.

Both relievers Jack Taschner and D.J. Carrasco are sitting pretty with less than a week until Opening Day. Barring a trade or waiver claim, they’ll both be in the bullpen. Keep in mind that the two have to be added to the 40-man roster, so the Pirates do have roster moves to make later this week.

If the Pirates go with a six-man bullpen, Taschner and Carrasco would fill it out. If they stick with a traditional seven-man one, Hayden Penn could step in as that last guy. Penn arrived at the McKechnie Field clubhouse this morning and is pitching in a Minor League game at Pirate City this afternoon. GM Neal Huntington will be there to watch.

Cutting Carlin means that the back-up catcher’s job will go to Jason Jaramillo or Erik Kratz. I still get the impression that management is leaning toward starting Jaramillo in the Minors where he can play every day, but that has not been definitively determined.

The club still has three position players — John Raynor, Steve Pearce and Ramon Vazquez – left to fill one (or maybe two) bench spots. Don’t expect this decision to be made until the weekend. The Pirates would still like to be able to trade Vazquez, who is owed $2 million this season, before potentially releasing him.

Ryan Church (fractured left middle finger) returns to the lineup on Tuesday. He’s hitting in the cleanup spot and playing center.

Ronny Cedeno (lower back tightness) is still out, though he’s a day-to-day situation.

Hanrahan is scheduled to throw two innings (40 pitches) in a Minor League game at Pirate City. Hanrahan will continue to throw in Minor League games so the team can backdate him onto the DL.

Young outfielder Robbie Grossman gets a start today in centerfield. This is what happens when you have fewer and fewer players in camp.

Zach Duke will make his final start of the spring on Wednesday and will be limited to 60 pitches to keep him fresh for his Opening Day start Monday. He’s scheduled to be followed by Brendan Donnelly, Evan Meek and Taschner

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